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Creating Time

The clockmaker, Mark Dudley, arrived at my house in mid-November with a big plastic tub containing the innards of my tall case clock. He took his time reinstalling the works, which he had completely rebuilt and cleaned, pointing out the new cable and shined weights. I had mourned those couple of months when the dark case stood empty and ominous like the Ghost of Christmas Future. The heart of the house was missing without the quiet ticking and bonging and slow sweep of the phases of the moon across that magnificent 81-year-old face. Mark showed me how to adjust a screw to slow or speed the pendulum, and I was struck then that we make time more than time makes us.

Time is a spatial and experiential dimension. It speeds up and slows down depending on your state of mind. Time is what I am doing right now sandwiched between thought layers of forecasting and remembering.

This is a moment when I want to think back to 1983, when I started Cheney & Company in the sunroom of my house with an IBM Selectric typewriter and a telephone. My desk was a hollow-core door on sawhorses. Suddenly it is 20 years later, and 13 of us work at 20 Grand Avenue, in the King’s Block Building that dates back to 1820.

The constant in measuring this period of time is emotional—an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the people, for the projects, for the congeniality and engagement. For me, the relationships born from our projects are every bit as important as the finished pieces, which now number in the thousands, for institutions ranging from schools to banks and in places from Tennessee to Tokyo. I am privileged to like what I do to make a living, and I give thanks to my colleagues and clients, each and all of you.

This year’s Cheney & Company calendar, when assembled, forms the Roman numeral XX to reflect the passage of our years in business. It also serves as a reminder that we humans are empowered by the gods to construct our time and make the most of it. This comes with best wishes for peace and health in the New Year.

Carol Cheney

But what minutes! Count them by sensation, and not by calendars, and each moment is a day.

—Benjamin Disraeli